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Cape Cross Military Institute
The Cape Cross Military Institute is the officer academy located in Cape Cross, Cape Cross Parish. It is acclaimed in international studies and economics. The Commanding Officer of the academy is Commandant Edward Grant. History CCMI was founded in 1887 by Polish immigrant Alfred Lechovsky and Moravian German Jan Schueler. Both men had served as volunteers in the Franco-Prussian War on the Prussian side, serving as jaegers. After Jan's (somewhat) accidental murder of a young Wallonian while off-duty, he and Lechovsky fled to Brunant and offered their services to the Royal Guard. They were spurned, and they began an orchard in Cape Cross to pass the time. However, after an anarchist's murder of four men and the Royal Guard's inabiliy to function as anything more than a ceremonial unit coming to light, they were asked to create an institution to better educate young men in the ways of war. Campus The school is located on around 311 acres of land of which 12 are designated as the Cape Cross Military Institute Historic District, are on the list of National Monuments. The campus is referred to as the "Post." A training area of several hundred additional acres is located near the Post. All cadets are housed on campus in a large five-story building, called the "barracks." The Barracks, which has been designated a National Monument, stands on the site of the old arsenal. The new wing of the barracks ("New Barracks") was completed in 1949. The two wings surround two quadrangles connected by a sally port. All rooms open onto porch-like stoops facing one of the quadrangles. A third barracks wing was completed, with cadets moving in officially spring semester 2009. Each of the five arched entries into the barracks are named after Adrian van Haecht, Frederick Schiller, Prince Hendrik of Brunant, Owen Halsey MacLellan and Prince Eugen. Next to the Barracks are offices and meeting areas for CCMI clubs and organizations, the cadet visitors center and lounge, a snack bar, and a Barnes & Noble-operated bookstore. DMI is continuing with significant construction projects under the "Vision 2039" program. Under this capital campaign, DMI's alumni and supporters raised over $25 million over three years. The Barracks are being expanded to house 450 cadets, all academic buildings are being renovated and modernized, and DMI is spending an additional $20 million to build the CCMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. The new Leadership Center will be used by CCMI cadets, Grijzestad University students, and other students throughout the country and abroad to develop leadership abilities combined with a focus on integrity and honor to benefit tomorrow's world. The Center will also be home to DMI's Distinguished Speaker Series and its Leadership Symposia. The funding will also support "study abroad" programs including joint ventures with Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England and many other universities. Students Prospective cadets must be physically fit for enrollment in the military, and be graduates of an accredited secondary school or have completed an approved homeschool curriculum. New cadets at CCMI have an average high school GPA of 3.89 and a mean SAT score of approximately 2100. Of the 251 students enrolled in 2005, 9 were African, 7 were Asian, and 11 were women. CCMI has traditionally enrolled cadets from the Dutch Marines and the French Army. Graduates have gone on to pursue graduate degrees after DMI at prestigious universities throughout the world before returning to their countries to continue their military service. Many graduates have reached general and flag officer ranks. During the 1990s many other nations were represented in the Corps of Cadets, including Great Britain, Bangladesh, Finland, the USA, Germany, Kenya, South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan. Gregory E. Lippiatt '09 of York, Pensylvania, USA was chosen as CCMI's eleventh Rhodes Scholar in 2009. Student life Just as cadets did over 100 years ago, today's cadets forswear such comforts as beds, instead lying upon cots colloquially referred to as "hays". These hays, aired every Monday, are little more than foam mats that must be rolled every morning. Further, cadet uniforms have little changed; the coatee, worn in parades, dates back to the war of 1812 in America. New cadets, Rats, experience even further deprivations, being unable to watch TV or listen to music or use the telephone outside the presence of upperclassmen. Ratline New freshmen, known as "Rats" and collectively as the "Rat Mass", walk along a prescribed line in barracks while maintaining an exaggerated form of attention, called "straining". This experience, called the Rat Line, is intended by the upper classes to instill brotherhood, pride, and discipline into the incoming class. Under this system, the Rats face mental and physical challenges, starting with "Cadre Week". During Cadre Week, Rats receive basic military instruction from select upper classmen ("Cadre"); they learn to march, they learn to clean their M-16, and they learn how to wear their uniforms. During Cadre Week, Rats also meet the members of various cadet-run organizations and learn the functions of each. Most notable of these is the Honor Court. By the end of the week, the new Rat Mass has significantly less hair than before and the Rats are on their way to becoming full-fledged cadets. At the end of the first week, it is quite clear that the Rats have just begun. At this point, each Rat is paired with an upperclassman who serves as their mentor for the rest of the first year. The first classman is called a "Dyke", reference to an older English pronunciation of "to deck out", or to get into a uniform. While the Dyke watches out for the Rat and the Rat works for the Dyke in accordance with Institute policy, Cadre still enforce all rules as the Rats. In combining the softness of the Dykes with the hardness of the system they lead, with countless push-ups, sweat parties, and runs, the Rats are instilled with the virtue of time management and attention to detail. The Ratline experience culminates with Resurrection Week ending in "Breakout", an event where the Rats are formally "welcomed" to the DMI community. After the successful completion of Breakout, Rats are officially fourth class students and no longer have to strain in the barracks or eat "square meals". Many versions of the Breakout ceremony have been conducted. In the 1950s Rats from each company would be packed into a corner room in the barracks and brawl their way out through the upperclassmen. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s the Rats had to fight their way up to the fourth level of the barracks through three other classes of cadets determined not to let them get to the top. The stoops would often be slick with motor oil, packed with snow, glazed with ice, greased, or continuously hosed with water. The barracks stairs and rails were not able to take the abuse, so the Corps moved the breakout to a muddy hill where Rats attempt to climb to the top by crawling on their stomachs while the upper classes block them or drag them back down. As of 2007 the Rats no longer breakout in the mud but instead participate in a grueling day of physical activity testing both physical endurance and team work. The entire body of Rats during the Ratline is called a "Rat Mass". Since the Rats of the Rat mass are not officially fourth classmen until after Breakout, the Rat Mass is also not officially considered a graduating class until that time either. Prior to Breakout, the Rat mass is given a different style of year identifier to emphasize this difference. The year identifier starts with the year of the current graduating class (their dykes' class), followed by a "+3" to indicate the anticipated year of their own class. For example, Rats that will make up the prospective Class of 2014 are considered the "Rat Mass of 2011+3" as the members of their dykes' class will graduate in 2011 and they themselves will graduate three years onward from then. Physical Exercise Cadets are subjected to physical activities for two hours every day in addition to academics, focusing on endurance and teamwork. Half an hour of this time is devoted to marksmanship with various weapons, mainly M-16s and CZ-75s. Upperclassmen practice more specialize skills, including survival, vehicle operation, and small unit tactics. Academics Majors Offered *English *Dutch *French *German *Spanish & Portuguese (Dual Course) *Russian *Swedish *Arabic *Western European Literature *Eastern European Literature *Islamic Literature *Defense Studies *African Studies *American Studies *Business *Business (International) *Business (Law) *Classical Studies *Economics *Political Science *International Affairs *History (General) *History (Medieval) *History (Early Modern) *Policy Management *Policy Studies *Physics *Philosophy *Religion﻿ ﻿Notable alumni *Alexander Dort (1901-1904), Mayor of Cape Cross *Ludolf Verheijen (1908-1913), military officer *Warren Voolde (1920-1923), activist and painter *Steven Dort (1930-1933), President *Marten II (1938-1941), King *Jan De With (1978-1981), Admiral of the Realmarine *Berna Ertogan (1988-1991), Royal Guard officer Category:Military Category:Cape Cross Category:Cape Cross Military Insitute Category:Technical Schools‎